we got lost in his village in Tennessee

Ever since Haliey Welsh mimed spitting on a penis, her life hasn’t been the same. Elevated to global stardom in seconds, the 22-year-old is now more likely to be in LA than in her Belfast shack. Enjoying a trip to Nashville, just an hour away, watson passed through this rural (and Trumpist) town of 695 inhabitants in a whirlwind. Atmosphere.

fred valet, marine brunner, tennessee

“What’s the one thing in bed that drives a man crazy every time?” The answer to that question, posed during a simple street interview in Nashville last June, is now worth several million dollars. It was dropped by a little blonde who had come to party with her girlfriend in the country music capital on a Saturday night like so many others:

A naughty spit on an imaginary penis, a laughing pout, a hell of a racket on social media and the Hawk Tuah Girl was born. Haliey Welsh, her real name, had nothing of the future muse of Hollywood. But she will never again have to stew in this little daily life that was hers, during the first twenty-two years of her life.

And that’s an understatement. Haliey, who had never flown or driven an interstate before the internet started cheering her on, is from Belfast, population 695. We’re a good hour (and south) of Nashville. A far cry from the trips to Los Angeles or New York that this brand-new influencer now takes every week to ride her success and rake in the cash.

Curious to get a feel for the atmosphere of a village that hadn’t planned to strut its stuff in the celebrity magazines, we decided to pass through it on the way. Time was running out – a presidential debate was waiting for us that very evening, but the temptation was too strong not to leave Jim McCord Hwy and head into the belly of America.

Belfast is a town with boots on its feet and a star-spangled banner systematically hanging from its porch. Like thousands of others in the fat United States. At its heart, a gas station, a Dollar General grocery store, a small fire station, a strange, dilapidated Lion’s Club and small shacks that look like they’ve escaped from an episode of True Detective.

At the entrance to the town, a small cluster of petrol pumps catches our eye, and with it, the Belfast Market & Deli. The smell of fuel mixes with that of frying oil. It is a little after noon when we burst into the only grocery store on the corner.

Naive as we are, we expect to bump into signed portraits of the local celebrity. Instead, chips with baroque flavors and a few fries finishing cooking. Routine.

Behind the counter, a petite brunette, her hair gathered under a baseball cap, is busy scanning a bottle of water and a pack of cigarettes. We come forward to spoil the conversation. “Hello, we are two journalists from Switzerland, do you know the Hawk tuah girl?”, someone says to her in a perfectly Swiss accent.

A good pick, but without much merit. In a village where not even a thousand souls share the land, the probability of running into an acquaintance of the Internet starlet is immense. We then ask her what it feels like to have a friend who has been exciting the whole world for more than two months: “It’s a source of pride, of course. Nobody expected anything like this around here.”.

This young employee of the Belfast Market & Deli confirms to us that TikTokers sporadically come and hold up a packet of sweets and their smartphone in the shop. And that it is “It’s normal that they come through here, you know. It’s strange to say it like that, but Haliey is a star now. And the fact that she worked here, brings us fans who know everything about her life”. It must be said that Hawk Tuah Girl is generous with details when it comes to explaining where she comes from. Her small house, which she shares with her grandmother, her job in a spring factory, which she left three days after her bawdy performance.

As if it were necessary to emphasize the contrast and prove that she is a real American, in real America. In other words, modest and rural.

Our interlocutor assures us that Haliey is a “great girl” and that she is “loved by the whole village”. Does the star still have time to return home? The young employee then lets out a little cry of satisfaction, while taking out her mobile phone.

Once back from the kitchen, she tells us that she is currently in Alabama and that she will not be back in Belfast until tomorrow. Our meeting will be for another time. In a few hours, Kamala Harris will give Donald Trump a good look on ABC News and Atlanta awaits us.

As we leave the grocery store, Republican campaign signs jump out at us. We quickly understand, as we travel along the small roads that cut through the village, that Kamala Harris is not so welcome there. Belfast, like a large majority of Tennessee, is Trumpist right down to the grilles of its pick-ups.

Most of the houses are painted in MAGA colors and a few Confederate flags complete the atmosphere. Here, it’s “Make America Great Again” and that’s it. Enough to make you wonder if the political sensibilities of Haliey Welsh, the exuberant new muse of a small but solid ultraconservative bastion, will turn red on November 5.

In a long interview with Rolling Stonethe Hawk Tuah Girl then took great pleasure in criticizing the Republican billionaire, without saying more about her voting intentions.

In Belfast, when support for the Trump-Vance ticket is not clearly displayed, the irresistibly faded storefronts make us dive back into the best westerns (or certain true crimes which contribute to the prosperity of Netflix).

And then, as is often the case in the American hinterland, pedestrians are nowhere to be seen, cars politely flash their indicators at intersections and discretion prevails.

For now, only the Daily Mail posted a pixelated photo of what is believed to be Haliey’s cocoon and her granny. In about twenty minutes, it was impossible to get our hands on it. Under the wary eye of some locals who were already scrutinizing our imposing SUV with Florida plates, hidden behind their curtains, we would only encounter a human form once inside the Dollar General.

As three seniors fill their shopping bags with affordable groceries, the cashier taps on her counter and waits patiently. Do you know Haliey Welsh? “Not personally, but I’ve seen her a few times.”

Here again, not the slightest plaque in honor of the new darling of social networks. While she pretends not to, travels her native place all over the world and stops two Swiss journalists on their way to Atlanta.

While Hawk Tuah Girl is doing rather well in the spotlight, between a podcast and highly sought-after merchandise, Belfast continues its little life on Earth, where 5G doesn’t even have a say.

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